Chinese tourists in Las Vegas: Flow and the evaluation of an intercultural gambling tour

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which Chinese tourists visiting a gambling casino experienced flow, and the extent to which experiencing flow was related to their evaluation of the visit. Such evaluation included those attributes of a casino visit which were considered important and how well they were provided. Also, this study intended to better understand the implications of flow for the management of casinos.; A survey was used to collect the data from the Chinese tourists who participated in the tours supplied by one travel agency in Los Angeles to and from Las Vegas during the study period. A flow experience scale was adopted to estimate the extent to which respondents experienced flow. Importance-Performance-Analysis was used to examine respondents' evaluations of the casino's attributes. The author also conducted participant observation to obtain qualitative information regarding the meaning of the experience.; The results showed that there were significant relationships between the importance and performance ratings of some attributes and the socio-demographic and behavioral factors of respondents. This study identified six attributes that the respondents considered as important but the casino did not perform well. The author found that flow experience was positively related to the satisfaction of the casino visit and was significantly related to all the behavioral factors. The correlation models of attribute performances on flow experience and the satisfaction of casino visit were established. The findings of participant observation re-confirmed some results found in the quantitative data analyses and suggested why such relationships occurred. The findings also discovered some culture differences the tourists from Mainland China faced on their trip. Based upon qualitative analysis, it was argued that the tourist experience for these Chinese visitors could be characterized as ironic.; The author concluded that flow experience existed among many Chinese gamblers and flow theory could be used in casino management to better understand how casino customers enjoyed the gambling games and to possibly improve market position, market segmentation, and human resource training in the increasingly competitive casino industry.